Why FCAUK will not be ‘Good News’ in Southwark Diocese

by Stephen Kuhrt

pre-published, with permission, from The Church of England Newspaper, 31st July 2009

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On Monday 6th July The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans United Kingdom (FCAUK) was launched in Westminster Central Hall. The addresses given during the morning focused upon the specifics of what has been happening in the Episcopal Church in America together with more general warnings of a similar ‘drift’ towards liberalism here in the United Kingdom and what might be needed in response to this.

It was the latter theme that dominated the afternoon with a series of films and interviews providing examples of UK dioceses ‘cooperating’ with ‘orthodox’ churches alongside examples where the opposite was seen to be the case. Whilst the film clips largely concentrated on the more positive examples, the interviews then conducted by William Taylor (Rector of St Helen’s Bishopsgate) and Christine Perkin (wife of the Vicar of St Mark’s, Battersea Rise and a member of its leadership team) focused on examples where conservative evangelicals felt oppressed and mistreated by their diocesan structures. The overall message of the afternoon, therefore, was that enough was enough: through the formation of FCAUK and action in regard to clergy selection and appointment, authorising church plants and the withholding of finance, those responsible for misgovernment, heresy and oppression in the Church of England would no longer be able to get away with it.

As one present at the conference to witness all this, what particularly alarmed me was the entirely uncritical nature of the ‘interviews’ conducted by Mr Taylor and Mrs Perkin. Candidates for ordination required to gain experience of the wider church shared their angst at this without the slightest searching question being put to them and a similar approach was then taken to frustrated church planters.

Included within the latter and most alarming to me personally was the last of these interviews, seemingly designed to form the climax of the afternoon, with the Reverend Richard Coekin, leader of the Co-Mission network of churches in South West London. During his interview Mr Coekin explained he was now looking to FCA to supply him with Episcopal oversight to replace that of his ‘liberal bishop’ Tom Butler.

Four years ago, Mr Coekin lost his license after he arranged for a bishop from the Church of England in South Africa (CESA) to ordain curates for his plants. These ordinations, arranged in secret and without the knowledge of either Southwark diocese or local evangelical clergy, were conducted at Christ Church Surbiton in November 2005 and attended by two of FCAUK’s leading players – Chris Sugden (the Convenor of Anglican Mainstream) and Paul Perkin (Vicar of St Mark’s Battersea Rise, who took on the usual Episcopal function of laying hands on the deacons). In the subsequent appeal Mr Coekin’s license was restored but only alongside instruction to refrain from similar action in the future and show loyalty to his bishop.

At the launch of FCAUK, however, Mr Coekin explained that despite a recent offer by Southwark diocese to grant ‘Fresh Expressions’ status to his plants and extended Episcopal oversight through the Bishop of Fulham (John Broadhurst, also present as a speaker at FCAUK) none of this was good enough. Instead, Mr Coekin declared, he was now looking to FCA to supply him with the Episcopal authority he was rejecting from Bishop Tom Butler.

So why the concern? Speaking as an evangelical who believes that the persecution of conservative Anglicans in America has been deplorable, who takes a completely orthodox position on the issue of homosexuality and who is passionate about evangelism and mission, why do I have a problem with Mr Coekin and the response to Bishop Tom Butler that he has made?

My reason is because of the disorder, indeed anarchy, that FCAUK will produce if such action proposed by Mr Coekin occurs. Those from further afield may be unaware of the culture that exists within the Co-Mission churches in South London. Whilst the network’s mother church, Emmanuel Wimbledon, has a more respectful attitude towards authority, its nature as a ‘proprietary chapel’ means that none of the Co-Mission churches pay any money whatsoever towards the Diocesan Parish Share. This detachment has resulted in a culture of separatism within Co-Mission further reflected in their establishment of some congregations explicitly antagonistic towards the established Anglican churches, particularly evangelical ones not sharing their view on issues such as women’s ministry.

Fairfield Church, for instance, a non conformist plant established by Mr Coekin in the parish of All Saints Kingston (after its then vicar denied him permission to plant) recently launched a sustained attack in one of its sermons on Christ Church, New Malden (the church where I am vicar). Attitudes of non-cooperation by Co-Mission bordering on contempt have been reported elsewhere in the diocese.

And to all this kind of activity, FCA is in danger of providing a ‘blank cheque’. ‘Alternative’ (as opposed to ‘extended’) Episcopal oversight from FCA ‘Bishops’ for the Co-Mission churches will make it impossible for there to be any meaningful episcopal oversight over the expansion of the Co-Mission empire and its actions in regard to other churches. And to those of us close to the situation it appears that freedom from episcopal oversight lies at the heart of Mr Coekin’s agenda – an ecclesiological agenda where he is essentially seeking the freedom to act completely as he sees fit. None of this, of course, is formally acknowledged and in a recent letter to Bishop Tom, Mr Coekin declared that his reasons for rejecting his authority are that “…you seem to be openly supportive of the consecration of women bishops (without full legal protection for those who cannot accept their oversight) and, more importantly, tolerant of homosexual practice”.

In the latter case, Bishop Tom has made categorical assurance to Southwark clergy of his loyalty to Lambeth 1:10 and his binding of all clergy forming Civil Partnerships to the restrictions outlined in Issues in Human Sexuality. Unlike Mr Coekin, the majority of evangelical clergy in Southwark diocese appear to recognise and support the difficult and painful task that Bishop Tom faces in working through these principles in terms of pastoral practice and legal constraint.

There is also widespread awareness that it simply untrue to claim that what has happened in the Episcopal Church in America is an indication of what is soon going to be true in the Church of England. There are, after all, far more evangelical bishops and proportionately far greater numbers of evangelical ordinands than ever before. Evangelical biblical scholarship has never been stronger or received greater academic credibility and evangelical mission agencies such as CPAS and CMS are also having a growing and substantial impact.

To at least one orthodox, mission minded clergyman, therefore, The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans United Kingdom represents anything but Good News. Containing an ethos almost entirely shaped by Reform and Anglican Mainstream, FCAUK’s temporary ‘alliance’ with Forward in Faith suggests a willingness to combine with those with whom they have deep theological disagreements, so long as they have a current objection to authority. If this manifests itself at a more local level, as Mr Coekin appears to want it to, it will swiftly produce a disorder which will completely undermine the evangelism and mission that it is claiming to promote. And rather than serving the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that will be extremely Bad News.

Stephen Kuhrt is Vicar of Christ Church, New Malden and Administrative Secretary of Fulcrum